With fluid data and knowing how to use equations, pressure drop calculation is not a big deal. However, be aware of the plant battery limit and contract of supply.
Battery limits (BL) is the interface where responsibility goes to another hand. For instance, once the postman lets the letter at the mailbox, his/her responsibility finishes and mailbox owner responsibility rises.
In process design, it is the same. People and companies do agreements for supplying and defines where the battery limit should be. As that agreement is done by business, good communication with the design team is important to avoid misunderstandings.
Suppose 1000 Nm3/h of natural gas will be fed to your plant at 14,5 psig and you need to compress it to 145 psig. This info is used to do a quotation to “save” time. During plant performance evaluation you observe that production is under design. In the field, you verify that max inlet pressure at the compressor is not 14.5 psig because the contract says 14.5 psig +/- 5% and BL is 100m away.
To avoid problems:
– verify where battery limits are
– confirm contract requirements
In the video, you can see a procedure to do a pressure drop calculation. Keep in mind that for this example pump battery limits is at nozzle discharge.
